Richard Boyd Barrett: Calls Bill 'Orwellian' for Raising Rents
Richard Boyd Barrett criticised a government bill that will reset long-standing rents to market levels, arguing it will raise already unaffordable rents and favour property speculators and landlords. He warned the measure will worsen the rental crisis and increase housing misery for ordinary people.
Main argument
He said the bill amounts to a naked admission that the government is representing property speculators, property investors and landlords. He described the logic behind the measure as perverse and compared it to a 'bomb the villages to save them' rationale, arguing it seeks to raise rents now so they can later be justified as market levels.
Impact on rents and tenants
He warned that raising long-standing tenancies to market rent will push already high rents even higher. He cited that rents are 38% above the EU average, that in Dublin average rent is about 50% of after-tax income, and that rents rose 41% in the last six years. He said resetting rents every six years could see 60,000 to 70,000 new tenancies a year face increases of up to 40%.
Market forces and investor incentives
He quoted the minister's remark that housing is driven by international markets and described the policy as 'dancing to the tune' of speculators and investors in Zurich, New York and Antwerp, as well as domestic landlords. He argued the bill is designed to encourage investment in the rental sector by preventing long-standing rents from falling behind market rent.
Eviction risks and protections undermined
He cautioned that the so-called protections in the legislation are hollow because unsuitable accommodation, including overcrowding, can still be used as grounds for eviction. He said landlords will be incentivised to evict marginally protected tenants and re-let at higher rents, increasing insecurity and turnover.
Conclusion and consequences
He described the measures as disgusting and shameful and said they will make the housing crisis and rental misery worse for many people. He concluded the bill prioritises investors and landlords over tenants and will deepen affordability problems for ordinary households.
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The government even cares about the rental crisis and the unaffordable obscene rents that are contributing to the housing crisis and misery that so many people are suffering in this country is now being dropped completely and we have a naked admission with this bill that the government is representing property speculators, property investors and landlords and trying to justify it with the most perverse logic ever which is we are going to raise rents that are already unaffordable in order to make rents drop. It's like the Vietnam, the American military commander who said we had to bomb the villages in order to save them. It's the same perverse Orwellian logic and as has already been alluded to and I spotted it myself but Deputy Hearn spotted it as well in the Expenditary Memorandum and in the Minister's speech he admits this the purpose of the rent resetting upwards to these already unaffordable rents to market rents is the aim is to encourage investment in the rental sector by ensuring that rents in respect of long-standing tenancies do not fall behind market rent so for the very few people out there who might have a sort of half affordable rent you wouldn't even call it that we're going to make sure they can't even have that we have to make sure in the interest of the investors that everybody is paying the highest possible rent because that's what the investors need and Minister Brown admitted the same logic is running behind the government's thinking when he said earlier this year he said quote housing is about international markets it's actually a spreadsheet in Zurich or New York or Antwerp or Antwerp more so than a builder looking at a site in Longford or Roscommon that's actually deciding what happens here that's it you're dancing to the tune of these speculators investors in Antwerp in New York in Zurich and of course we have our own homegrown greedy landlords as well and you're going to put up the already most unaffordable rents pretty much in Europe to even more unaffordable levels our rents are 38% higher than the EU average and you want them to go higher in Dublin the average rent is now 50% of the after tax income of the average worker 50% but that's the average that average is brought down by the fact that there is still a small number of slightly lower rents when everything is reset to the market rent to the highest level that average is going to jump what have rents gone up in the last six years by 41% so if rent is reset every six years we will be looking at people 60,000 to 70,000 of them a year new tenancies going up potentially by 40% shocking on top of already obscene rental levels that are completely unaffordable for ordinary people and that makes a mockery then of the so-called protections and for tenancy security of tenure measures because if rents out there are unaffordable and there's a churn of tenancies about every three and a half years anybody looking for a new tenancy will be faced with completely unaffordable rents that could be up to 40% higher than they already are when they're already unaffordable and they will have absolutely no chance of being able to afford those rents but all the while the guys in Zurich and New York and Antwerp and our own homegrown landlords raking it in raking it in from these absolutely unaffordable rents it's also not entirely clear to me that even the protections you claim there because you see if accommodation not being suitable to needs can still be a ground for eviction you can get evicted from being overcrowded so there'll be new reasons for eviction even under the so-called protections because there's too many people living there you've had a kid you've got a new partner who has kids you're in an overcrowded situation that's now grounds for you to be evicted under the legislation do you not think that's going to happen? of course it's going to happen as the landlords find other reasons they now have an incentive to drive up rents you've given them an incentive even the ones that are marginally protected the landlord now has an incentive to kick them out and get the rent up to the highest level it's unbelievable what you're doing it's disgusting it's shameful and it's going to make the housing misery a lot worse for a lot, a lot of people definitely
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